# HERES ONE FOR YOU **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2000, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204 "2000-10-25T01:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![not1truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@not1truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not1truth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/1 "2000-10-25T01:45:31Z")
3 guys go to a hotel and they get a room that they think costs 30 dollars so they each pay 10. turns out the room only costs 25 so the guy at the desk sends 5 with the bellboy and the bellboy gives each guy a dollar thats 3 dollars and he is left with 2 if each guy got a dollar back that means they each paid 9 for the room 3 times 9 = 27 ``` 27 plus the 2 that the bellboy has =29 where the hell is the extra dollar ``` ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/2 "2000-10-25T01:51:05Z")
There is no missing dollar. The men paid 27 dollars. The front desk has 25 dollars. The bellboy has 2 dollars. 25 + 2 = 27. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/3 "2000-10-25T01:51:06Z")
:rolleyes: The hotel has $25. The bellboy has $2. The 3 guys each have $1. 25 + 2 + (3\*1) = 30 Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/4 "2000-10-25T01:58:39Z")
What a strange coincidence…I got in a huge argument with a guy at work (my manager, actually) over this about 2 days ago. I concluded the error comes from assuming the guys paid $9 because they were given $1 back. This is true from the guys’ point of view, I argued, but not in fact. So, the guys are wrong in thinking “Alright, we paid $9 instead of $10!” but we can’t blame them because the bellboy was dishonest. They actually paid $9.33, but they don’t know it. (In the version I heard, the bellboy just took the money for himself, he didn’t return it to the desk.) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/5 "2000-10-25T01:59:09Z")
Also three times nine dollars is twenty-seven. Plus the three dollars they got back equals the thirty dollars they originally paid. The two dollars the bellboy kept is part of the twenty-seven dollars they paid and cannot be added to it again. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/6 "2000-10-25T02:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skwerl \* > \*\*What a strange coincidence…I got in a huge argument with a guy at work (my manager, actually) over this about 2 days ago. \*\* I’m very very sorry you have to work for someone like this. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/7 "2000-10-25T02:04:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skwerl \* > They actually paid $9.33, but they don’t know it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the guys each paid $9. ---
**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/8 "2000-10-25T02:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Punoqllads \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Skwerl \* > > They actually paid $9.33, but they don’t know it. > > Sorry to burst your bubble, but the guys each paid $9. \*\* But the guy kept $2 they were paying for. If the bellhop brought it back to the manager, then they’d have paid $9 each (for the room, not total). Maybe my math’s wrong, I’m kinda tired. But I think it made sense when I first thought of it (which was in like 10 seconds, so maybe I’m just dead wrong, too). Summary: forget I ever posted to this thread. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/9 "2000-10-25T02:26:50Z")
Your math isn’t wrong, you just set the problem up wrong. The front desk wound up with $25 from them, and the bellboy wound up with $2. $25 + $2 = $27. $27 / 3 = $9. ---
**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/10 "2000-10-25T02:30:22Z")
Oh yeah, the way my manager phrased it was: “How much did they pay for the room?” Everyone said “$9” and he said “But 9\*3+2=29, where’s the other dollar?” and I said “Well, they didn’t pay $9 for the room, they paid $9.33!” and insanity ensued. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/11 "2000-10-25T04:29:12Z")
Isn’t this a repeat? I remember we’ve had this before . . . I have no link. And getting a big fat guy to bonk me on the head will not make me any more likely to give you a link. ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/12 "2000-10-25T06:08:57Z")
The way the problem is stated they each handed over ten dollars from their wallets. They each put one dollar back later. Think of it in a purely physical way if that helps; exactly how many actual dollars have they each paid? 9. Point of view has nothing to do with it, and there's no .33 anywhere. Even if there were an extra $.33 from each guest “given” to the bellboy, that only brings their payments up to $28, not 29. So even if you were right, there'd still be a missing dollar! They'd have to be contributing .66 if this were the source of the bellhop’s cut, which it isn’t. The $2 of the bellboy, as DrF said, came OUT OF what the men paid, it is part of their $27 tab. There is no justification for adding it again to get the puzzling sum of $29. Two of the $27 is with the bellhop and twenty-five is with the management, as per Punoqllads’ post. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-one-for-you/38204/13 "2000-10-25T14:41:23Z")
**iampunha** It may be a repeat. But the question was **answered** in the first two posts (which were simulposts BTW). So why people are still posting answers when the question has been answered multiple times is a mystery.